NPI’s director shot dead

The director of Russia’s National Petroleum Institute has been shot dead. 50-year-old Zelimkhan Magomedov – originally from Dagestan – was shot twice in the head nearby the apartment block in southwestern Moscow.

A city prosecutor said the shooting – which happened at around 10 o' clock Moscow time on Tuesday morning – was a “contract hit”. An investigation has been opened. The killing follows the high profile killings earlier this year of journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the First Deputy Chairman of Central Bank, Andrei Kozlov.